The Castle
by alwaysalrose
Summary: James, Lily, Albus, Ginny, Harry, and a lifetime of others. For the Family Bootcamp Challenge on HPFC. Chapter Two: If seeing is believing, which Ginny Potter thinks it is, then she has to believe that her life is really real.
1. Snow

Ginny pulled on her hat and gloves, grumbling. Six o'clock in the morning, and of course her kids had to be up.

Of bloody course.

Harry was grumbling, too, wrapping a scarf around his neck and pulling on extra layers of socks. The air already had a bitter chill in the air. Ginny's teeth chattered.

"Remind me again why we had children." She sighed. Harry winced.

"We didn't mean to. It wasn't planned."  
"Right." Lily rushed in again, the four year old's beanie on backward, her hands stuffed in two pairs of mittens. The pink clashed horribly with her bright red hair.

"Hurry!" She complained, before excitedly adding, "It's snowing." As if she hadn't a hundred times before. Ginny nodded.

"Uh-huh." Ginny snapped, "I _know._" Harry frowned.

"We'll be out in a min, Lily, darling. Go make sure James and Albus are ready." He said. Lily's face lit up and she rushed back out the door. Ginny laughed a little bit, despite herself.

"Go get Lily to annoy her brothers so she doesn't annoy us, huh?" Ginny raised her eyebrows. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well, we can't be bugged _all _the time." He gave Ginny a quick peck on the cheek. Ginny ran her fingers through his hair as he pulled her into an embrace. And then James barged in.  
"SNOW" He shouted. It wasn't the first time seeing snow, of course, but usually it was at the Burrow, or a few wet clumps stuck in between the pot plants. The snow was never _heavy_, not where the Potter clan lived.

-x-

They eventually got downstairs, where Albus and Lily were sitting in the dining room seats, jiggling around like they had to go to the bathroom. Badly. James was in the kitchen, frowning and pouring milk all over the counter, trying to make cereal.

"What are you doing?" Ginny stared at her eldest son in horror. Cheerfully, he grinned up at her, his beanie covering his eyes.

"Well, I figured I would make breakfast, because then if we've eaten we can go to the snow _right away_, and-"

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER, I am never letting you in a kitchen again." Ginny hissed, stomping over in her snow boots and flinging open the fridge, hunting for some juice. She figured they wouldn't eat a full breakfast anyways, not with the wintry wonderland beckoning. Ginny shook her head as she poured three cups of orange juice. She dished it out to all of her kids.

"Okay, when you're finished, you can go outside." Albus took small, reasonable sips, whilst James took large gulps, a bit like a dog, and Lily tipped it in her mouth all at once, the juice spilling down her front. Harry laughed and wrapped his arms around Ginny's waist, kissing her cheek. James scrunched his nose up, and Lily barreled towards the door.

-x-

Exhilarating but exhausting. Absolutely exhausting. Albus had decided the best way to spend the day was to curl up by the fire and read. James decided he wanted to do it all - sledding, skiing, snowboarding (they had to rummage through the Burrow for that stuff), building snowmen, snow angels, snowball fights, snow forts - and Lily just followed along.

It was exhausting, mostly.


	2. Seeing

Ginny Weasley never believed anything she couldn't see. That was the very first rule you had to know if you were going to get along with her.

-x-

So Ginny _had_ to believe that Harry had proposed, in the middle of the Burrow, at the exact same time and moment as Ron proposed to Hermione. Hermione had accepted right away - but even though Ginny had _seen_ it, she could barely _believe _it. She could see worry creep onto Harry's face, and could feel her heart pumping in her ears. And she heard herself say yes, and even though she couldn't see herself saying it, she believed it. And apparently, so did everyone else.

-x-

And Ginny _had _to believe she was pregnant. Staring down at the pregnancy potion, it was turned pink - positive. One by one, she shut her eyes and opened them again. Yep. Still pregnant. She blinked a few times. _Pregnant._ But seeing was believing, and now she had to live with this. She was carrying Harry Potter's child.

What would she tell Harry?

-x-

Ginny walked around slowly, her back aching. _Any day now,_ the Healer said, _any day now. _Harry was away. He didn't want to leave, but it was extremely important. It was leave or lose his job.

Ginny sat down on the lounge, her eyes wandering to the fireplace, hoping Harry would come through any moment; and then the contractions hit.

-x-

Ginny sat, exhausted, in the hospital bed, a panicked Harry clutching her hand tightly. In one arm, a small baby lay asleep. Ginny smiled at her son.

"What are we going to call him?" She asked, smiling at the boy's brown eyes. Harry smiled.

"I'm a father. I want to name him after my two fathers - Sirius James." He said. Ginny raised an eyebrow.

"Sirius James? _Serious _James? No, Harry." She glared. Harry sighed.

"Marauder Dumbledore?" He asked. Ginny shook her head.

"There is no way in hell I'm calling him Marauder Dumbledore." She snapped. Harry sighed.

"Fine. Ronald Neville." Harry grinned, "That's perfect!"

"Ronald." Ginny snorted, "That's my brother's name. It's the worst name in the world." Harry's face fell.

"Okay, I've got it - James Sirius!" He cried. Ginny sighed.

"That's better than any of your other suggestions." She admitted defeatedly. Harry grinned, and the Healer let the Weasley crowd in. Ginny grinned up at them all, re-arranging her son in her arms so they could see.

"This is James Sirius Potter, the newest member of our family." Ginny proudly announced, looking down at her tiny son in awe. If seeing was believing, she had no choice but to acknowledge that this was her son, and she had to believe in him.


End file.
